Shell for infantry use



July 21, 1925;

T. LAFITTE SHELL FOR INFANTRY USE Filed Jan. a. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1I I I l v v I I I July 21, 1925. I 1,546,842

1'. LAFITTE SHELL FOR INFANTRY USE Filed Jan. 8. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITEI? STATES rmtonom: mum, or runs, FRANCE.

T FFICE- SHELL FOR INFANTRY USE.

Application filed January 8, 1923. Serial No. 611,518.

5 Avenue Pasteur, in the Republic of France,

engineer, have invented certain new and useful Shells for Infantry Use,of which the following is a specification.

The shell of the winged type according to the present invention isintended to be fired by hand or by an infantry cannon without beingobliged to make any great modifications for such purposes. As aparticular feature, the said projectile may be fired vby means of theinfantry cannon which is set forth in patent filed on this date forinfantry cannon. It also provides for a perfect stability which is dueto the'application of a ring to the rear end of the wings, as well as anentire safety as regards t e striker arrangement.

Two constructional forms of said shell are shewn by way of examplein theappended drawings.

Fig. 1 is a section on the axis of the first constructional form of theshell.

Fig. 2 is a section of the striker arrangement on a large scale.

Fig. 3 is a view of the rear end of the wings and of the device forattaching a sleeve.

Fig. 4 is a erspective-view of the sleeve.

Fig. 5.is a l1ke view of one of the rings of the sleeve. 3

Fig. 6 is an elevational view of the striker arrangement of the secondconstructional form.

- Fi 7 is a vertical section on the line A- of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is ahorizontal section on the line B-B of Fig. 6 with the tongueor plate removed.

1 indicates the shell properly so called,

and 2 a removable sleeve which is used only for hand firing.

The shell is constituted by a hollow receptacle in cast iron 3 of asuitable shape; at about two-thirds of its height it comprises a turnedcylindrical portion 3 of the same diameteras the cannon bore, save for aslight play. Ateither end of the shell is a screwthreaded hole anda'machined flat surface.

I Upon the upper screw-threaded part is fitted the striker device, andupon the lower screwthreaded part the tall piece with the wings.

The striker device comprises a screwthreaded detonator tube 4, thedetonator 5 bemg fitted into the narrow part thereof; said tube isscrewed directly into the main body of the shell by means of notchesformed 7 1n its collar by milling; into the said detonator tube isscrewed a nut 6 which serves to 1 hold the detonator 5. Into theinternal threaded part of said nut which has in all cases a left thread,is inserted a striker 7 upon whose end is soldered a conical cup 8 ofpressed sheet metal having at the periphery a set of inclined bladeswhich are directed towards the right. A spring 9 is disposed betweenthe'said cup and the nut 6. A split pin 10 carrying a mass of lead 11prevents the striker from rotating within the nut holding the detonator.The internal and external threads of the nut 6 are in all cases in thecontrary sense, and the blades of the said cup and the screwthread ofthe striker also have their threads in the contrary sense. 4

The lower screwthread of the main body of the shell is adapted toreceive a steel tail iece 12 which is apertured and is bored out or themajor part of its length. To the said tail piece are soldered the sheetmetal wings 13, connected together at. the bottom by the ring 14 whichis soldered to said wings.

The device forming the shell properly so called has removably securedthereto a sleeve 2 of textile fabric having a tapered shape, Fig. 4, thesleeve being maintained in the round form bymeans of two elastic rings 714, 15 of piano wire which are extensible because the ends are notsoldered, Fig. 5.

As above stated, the said shell can be fired by means of a suitablecannon, or in other ing the percussion mechanism of the cannon.

The gas from the explosion of the cartridge will escape through thelateral holes in the tail piece 12 and will occupy the space between thebreech block of the cannon and the shell, Whereby the latter is giventhe requisite impulse for the distance to be covered. The lead weight11, as above tact with stated, is connected with the shell solely by thepin 10 which is disposed inthe oblique and aligned holes of the striker7 and the nut 6; the ends of said pin are normally spread apart in orderto hold the safety weight; said pin prevents the striker 7 from turning,so that it. cannot come into concause serious accidents durin themanipulations. The said pin must be rawn out when starting, so as togive free action to the striker device, and this is automatically produced by theinertia of the safety mass, cause the mass will have at thestart by reason of its inertia a negative acceleration,

with respect to the shell .as a whole, and this will suflice to removethe said pin from the striker. The safety weight when thusg releasedwill now be withdrawn from the cannon bythe shell. The striker whendisengaged will set up a rotation under the effect of the resistance ofthe air acting upon the blades of the cup 8; as above stated, the bladesand the screwthread of the striker are in contrary sense, so that thestriker becomes screwed into the nut 6 until the last threads extend outsaid nut, At this time the striker is free .to rotate as well as to movein a straight line; it is only separated from the detonator by thespring 9 which comes in contact with the base of the nut 6. To preventthe air pressure due to the great velocity produced by the cannon firingfrom driving the striker into the detonator, various holes 17' are madein the conical part of the cup to provide for an increased air fiow. Inthis manner, the shell is primed so that even a slight impact upon theend of the cup will cause the striker to be driven in, and the point ofthe striker will thus come into contact with the detonator.

The latter will explode, thereby causing the explosion of the chargecontained in the shell.

The shell must always have the point turned in the direction of themovement; this result will be obtained because the blades 13 areconnected together by the ring 14 which directs the air through channelsand preventshany swaying motion, so'that the shell will always maintaina stable position upon the trajectory.

By the use of the said improvement it will no longer be necessary as inknown devices to heavily load the forward part of such shells, but onthe contrary the mass ma be more regularly distributed over the lengthof the shell and a substantially uniform thickness can be given to itswalls, this being advantageous as regards the complete and eifectivesubdivision of the shell. The disposition of the ring 14 also has theadvantage of providing in combination with the bearing portion 3 for along guiding of the detonator 5, as this might the shell in the cannon,and the shell will thus have a very exact direction at the discharge.

The fact that the external and internal the pin no longer be in thedevice, the work-' be-\man may turn the striker in the sense of thescrewing of the said combination without any -.danger, because thestriker now becomes unscrewed and cannot come into contact with thedetonator. It is preferable to charge the shell wit cartridges havingvarious loads according to the range of firing. With this variation ofcharge, combined with the differences in the inchnation of the cannon, alatitude of range will be offered which may be comprised for examplebetween 60 and 1500 meters for a cannon of 60 millimeter base. In orderto readily distinguish the cartridges for use, these are painted adifferent colour for each class, and each colour corresponds to a givenrange, for instance as follows: 60 to 200 meters, white; 200 to 500meters, yellow; 500 to 900 meters, blue; 900 to 1,500 .meters, red;

These colours mav still be seen when the shell is charged, by reason ofthe lateral orifices of the tail piece 12. A facility of manipulationand a rapidity for the firing operations which has been hitherto unknowncan now be obtained.

H and firing.As above stated, the minimum ran 'e for the cannon is about60 meters. hould the enemy continue to advance, the gunners will beenabled to defend themselves by throwing the shells by hand, afterremoving the mass carrying the safety pin. But as the initial speed ofthe shell is much. smaller than .for the cannon firing, the lower wingswill not sufiice to properly maintain the shell upon its trajectory andto cause the striker device to "assume the forward position whenfalling.

The stability of the shell is obtained in this event by adding theremovable sleeve 2, which is put in place by disposing the upperexpanding ring 15 around the ring pertaining to the set of wings, sothat the expanding ring will close upon the wings in order to maintainthe said sleeve. When cannon firing, the number of turns which must bemade by the striker is considerable in order to obviate all prematureexplosion,

hand firing, the natural impulse given to the shell by a gunner throwingit with the right hand is in fact a left-hand rotation; since thestriker, which acts against this rotation by its inertia, has a leftthread, it will begin screwing under the impulse, and will continueduring the trajectory to move forward by the few remaining threads whichit became necessary to add for the normal cannon firing.

In the constructional form hereinbefore described, safety is ensured bythe use of a split pin which passes obliquely through the strikerspindle and its screwthrcaded guide,

the rear end or head of the said pin being weighted by a mass of lead,the ends of the pin being bent out so as to prevent any improper escapeof the said pin during the manipulations. During the loading, it isnecessary to partially straighten out the bent ends of the pin so thatthey shall not offer an excessive resistance to the release of thesafety device which might occur if these parts were bent at a greatangle, for any such action would prevent the explosion of theprojectile. ThlS straightening operation has been hitherto performedsolely by. means of the fingers, but this occasions a loss of time andthe operation may be carried out in an irregular or imperfect manner ormight even be neglected.

To obviate this drawback, one employs for the proper bending of thebranches of the pin a strip or plate with calibrated hole which isdisposedupon the pin before its ends are bent over. It is simplynecessary to draw upon the said plate during the last part of theoperation so as to pull it off the pin, in order to bring the branchestogether by a quantity which is always equal, and in this manner the pincan always be disengaged at the start in a reliable manner by reason ofthe inertia of'the lead weight; the operation thus becomes rapid andregular, and there is less danger that it will be neglected, because ofthe presence of the' said plate which is of course very apparent.

The construction of the striker device as shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 isthe same as above described. But in this case the split pin 10 isengaged in a hole 17 in the plate of thin sheet metal 18 which has forexample a s oon shape. When inserting the shell in t e cannon, thegunner pulls ofi the plate by a strong effort, and this obliges thetwobranches to come to ether as shewn in Fig. 8. To enable the fingersto take a better hold of the plate, it can be made of corrugated shapeor with' a roughened or striated surface, or the like, for example asherein illustrated. Since the hole 17 has a suitable diameter, one maybe certain that the branches-of the said pin will be brought together byexactly the right amount to enable the mass 11 to be disengaged at thestart.

By the use of the said arrangement, the

plate may be put on and the branches of the pin can then be bent at a.right angle, and this will ensure the safe holding of the pin so that itcannot escape during-trans portation or handling, and the latter willtake place in the maximum conditions of safet Claims 1. In a shell forinfantry use of the winged type, the combination with the wingarrangement for the shell of a removable sleeve made of textile fabricthis sleeve permitting to increase the surface of the wing arrangementfor hand firing and being adapted to be instantaneously removed for thecannon firing.

2. In an infantry shell of the wing type, the combination of the wingarrangement for shells, a removable sleeve forming an additional winarrangement, anda ring which is coaxia with the shell and is disposedrearwardly of said wing arrangement, said ring being adapted tocontribute to a considerable degree towards the stability of theprojectile upon its trajectory by directing the air through channels.

3. In an infantry shell of the wing type, the combination of a strikerwhich is adapted to be screwed by the action of blades disposed upon acentral cup, the latter being apertured so as to obviate all improperpercussion upon the detonator of the shell.

4. In an infantry shell of the wing type, the combination of a strikeradapted to be screwed into a nut by the action of the blades of apropeller, and a heavy mass disposed within an oblique aperture formedthrough the said striker and its nut, said mass providing for safetyconditions when handling the said shell.

5. In an infantry shell of the wing type, the combination of a strikeradapted to be screwed into a nut by the action of the blades of apropeller, the screwthread of the striker being directed in contrarysense to the external screwthread of the said nut screwed by the actionscrewing into the shell, whereb all improper screwing of the strikerurlng1 the assembling operation shall be obviate 6. In an infantry shellofthe wing tyg: provided with a striker adapted to of the lades of apropeller, said striker having a left thread whereby an additionalrotation shall be obtained when the shell is thrown by hand so as toinsure the complete screwing of the striker in spite of the shorttrajectory of the shell.

7. In an infantry shell of the wing type, the combination a strikeradapted to be screwed into a nut by the action of the blades of apropeller, a heavy mass disposed within an oblique aperture formedthrough the saidstriker and its nut, and a split pin supporting the saidmass, the end of said pin engaging a calibrated hole in a thin metalplate intended to be pulled off during the firing operation.

y 8. In an infant shell of the Wing type, the combination 0 a strikeradapted to be screwed into a nut by the action of the blades of aropeller, a heavy mass disposed within an o lique aperture formedthrough the said striker and its nut, and a split pin supporting thesaid mass, the end of said "pin engaging a calibrated hole in a thinmetal plate intended to be pulled off during the firlng operation, saidplate being suitably roughened in order to be readily seized by thefingers;

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname.

THEODORE LAFITTE-

